Social Media Management is the process of strategically creating, publishing and promoting content on social media and monitoring a brand’s presence there too.
Whilst Instagram and Facebook are popular platforms for businesses, Twitter, Pinterest, Linkedin and YouTube all offer opportunities depending on your audience.
Managing Social Media for your business is an ongoing activity – rather than something that happens once a year, and it should be undertaken as part of your overall marketing strategy. The key word here is strategy. Anyone can throw up a post to tick off a ‘to-do’, but without strategy, you’re just throwing spaghetti at a wall – and it doesn’t always stick, trust me I’ve tried. And that’s only part of the story, being on social media means being, well, social. If you’re not having conversations with your audience and looking for ways to increase your engagement, reach and visibility, you’re missing valuable opportunities to use social media to grow your business and profits.
At Socialised, managing a brand’s social media is a four step process:
- Social Media Strategy – your plan for what content you will create and how you will maximise engagement and interactions across social media to achieve your marketing objectives.
- Content Creation – turning words, images, ideas and inspiration into shareable content that connects with your ideal customer.
- Community Management – engaging with your community on social media by replying to comments, answering DM’s, asking questions, commenting on other people’s posts and generally being visible and available to your audience.
- Tracking Results – an analysis of key metrics as they relate to your social media objectives, so you know what’s working and what isn’t and can adjust accordingly.
Do you need a Social Media Manager?
You can manage your social media in-house. But many businesses prefer to outsource this activity to a professional Social Media Agency like Socialised. As I wrote earlier in this article, it doesn’t take a huge amount of time to throw up a post so you can say you did, but if there’s no strategy behind the post, it’s unlikely to do much for your business. And if you’re consistently creating content that is on brand and resonates with your audience, you’re potentially doing more harm than good, especially when it comes to visual mediums like Instagram
Indicators that it’s time to hire a Social Media Manager
Socialised clients like, Allan Scott Wines and Nelson Fine Homes use our Social Media Management service for a variety of reasons relating to their own businesses goals, but to help you determine if this is a service that would benefit you, here are some questions to ask yourself:
Do you have the time? More often than not, there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. Add in creating content, writing captions, keeping track of analytics, replying to DM’s and comments, etc. you’ll quickly find yourself having to cut corners in other areas of your business that require your attention.
Do you have the technical knowledge to manage your social media effectively? The online world is constantly evolving. Knowing how to get your social media to work for you can take a lot of skill, know-how, and regular education/research. If you don’t, you’re going to need to devote even more time to learning what you need to know and staying up to date.
Do you have the content? Strategically and creatively posting to social media isn’t quite as straightforward as snapping a behind the scenes photo and uploading it to Instagram or Facebook. You don’t need to have the perfect-looking feed but you do need to have consistency and a clear look and feel across your platforms (one that reflects your brand). Also, your content will ideally offer value to your consumers to help raise your engagement which once again, all takes a lot of time, energy and skill.
Sensing a common theme here?
Time. Social Media takes time and for most business owners, that’s time better spent doing the things they’re good at. When you hire a Social Media Manager you’re tapping into their area of expertise so you can focus on yours.
Are you ready to get serious about social media for your business?
If you’re ready to maximise opportunities for your business on social media, we’ve got you covered. Socialised by Keetrax is currently taking on new clients for Social Media Management.
Meet Alice Hazlett
We would love to introduce you to Alice Hazlett, our new Social Media Manager. Alice lives in Motueka with her partner Manu and is recently a new dog mum to puppy Indy. Alice has several years of experience working in digital marketing and managing multiple Social Media brands. She brings a wealth of knowledge, passion, and experience to her clients and role at Socialised and we’re really excited to have her join our team.
Book a call
Why not book a call with Alice to discuss how we can help you to delight your future customers with Social Media? In addition to Social Media Management we can also help you with; Social Media Strategy and Coaching if you or a member of your team would like to learn more about social media so you can manage it in-house.
Alice Hazlett
Social Media Manager
